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Double down on your life insurance. And let me know if you'll be driving near anyplace I am.

Seriously, you need real brakes on that. Surge brakes are inferior. Just a fact. May be adequate on paper, may work fine for most- but in a percentage of situations, they will be inferior to electric brakes and an inertial brake controller.

I'm a little disgusted that BMW (NA?) still won't allow the installation of a hitch on the 2011 X5's due to software issues.

I was on the verge of refusing my ordered X5 if it didn't have a hitch installed. 2 months later & still no software!

All other SUV's don't seem to be having any problems with their hitch, what's up with BMW? Sorry just venting as I need to pull my covered trailer to haul furniture asap. I may have to rent a truck instead. So annoying to have to rent when I have all the necessary equipment except for the damn hitch

I'm a little disgusted that BMW (NA?) still won't allow the installation of a hitch on the 2011 X5's due to software issues.

I was on the verge of refusing my ordered X5 if it didn't have a hitch installed. 2 months later & still no software!

All other SUV's don't seem to be having any problems with their hitch, what's up with BMW? Sorry just venting as I need to pull my covered trailer to haul furniture asap. I may have to rent a truck instead. So annoying to have to rent when I have all the necessary equipment except for the damn hitch

Chris:

Have your dealer, or even better, you call BMW NA as I mentioned in my posting a couple of days ago. If enough people complain, they may do something.

My hitch was installed beginning of July & after 2 unsuccessful attempts, the programming last week worked. So, it CAN be done.

Just back from 879 mile trip to Roebling Road for weekend of racing. All went well with X5. Too easy to go too fast though. (With old X3 trying to exceed 70 mph was like trying to break the sound barrier.) On trip home, I set cruise control on X5d at 75 mph. It was effortless. Fuel consumption averaged 14 mpg at 75 per computer readout. (I checked accuracy on some fillups. It IS accurate.)

Good idea to stay under 70. Trip was not exactly low drama. Had one old trailer tire delaminate on way up and the other old one on way back. Price of getting to destination fast.

And, be glad you're only going to SC. Georgia is STILL working on I-95. On Friday night at about 7:15 PM they had southbound traffic backed up about 15 miles from Darien exit north. Seemed like half way to Savannah.

First of all, I don't need all this towing hookups, I was only going to use it for my bike rack, but they only sell class III hitches. Second, I figure maybe i could just buy the parts and have it installed elsewhere for less.
Any ideas?

First of all, I don't need all this towing hookups, I was only going to use it for my bike rack, but they only sell class III hitches. Second, I figure maybe i could just buy the parts and have it installed elsewhere for less.
Any ideas?

The prices BMW dealers charge are totally unrelated to the task at hand..they just size up the customer and fire away!

You CAN and SHOULD consider just buying the hitch and having a mechanic install it-(or DIY)... nothing magical about it. Skip the electrical connectors, but keep them if you ever need them- at a later date you can have them connected and do the programming.

Figure an hour, hour and a half for install. Or DIY.

Interestingly, do you think that Ford Dealers are charging $925 to install a class III hitch on an F250? Nope. Cause F250 buyers would laugh at them. BMW owners are much more intimidated by bolts....

I did it myself, including electrical. It will take you at least 4 hours. Most difficult parts are Removing bumper without damaging it and cutting the bumper. You have to remove (and break them in process) the plastic fasteners under the tire flare and have them installed back by dealer since they require special tool ($50 parts & labor). Also you have to get the dealer to reprogram the computer ($160.00). Total cost DIY, ~$700.00 assuming you don't damage anything and you have the right tools. The hitch itself is very costly (~$500), but compared to after market versions (~$250), it is much ticker and heaver build. Also it comes with all elec. harness and elec. mod. My suggestion is to have it installed in Perform Center if you can or up to $1000.00, part & labor, worth the price at the dealer. Hopefully in future (FXX model) has it as standard or factory option.

Just pickup an 2011 E70 35d with the trailer hitch installed by the dealer. Again the stealership always charges too much for such a simple mechanical add on. If I had the software tools like I have for my e36 I would have done it myself. Anyways does anyone notice that the placement of the trim design is offset to the left not centered to accomdate the electrical connector? It just doesn't look right including the big hole on the right of the hitch. Would anyone who has a hitch installation be interrested in a new trim piece that was first centered, functional, provided an aesthetically pleasing look by blocking the holes and does not require wiggling the hitch pin under right side of the fascia to get it in? 15 years in designing powertrains for cars I can see they really had the B-team working on this one.

does anyone notice that the placement of the trim design is offset to the left not centered to accomdate the electrical connector? It just doesn't look right including the big hole on the right of the hitch.

The 2011 trim does not have a big hole on the right. But I agree it is not the best design and an after-thought. Another problem is the exposed SS mufflerlooks awful. I painted mine black on exposed area......

Thats why you painted the muffler because the trim piece does not have a backing, hence the big hole. Most installations on SUV's (sorry this is an SAV I forgot) the trim piece has a backing that is set back to accomdate the hitch pin and hides the the underbody components. Nice paint job though.

Thats why you painted the muffler because the trim piece does not have a backing, hence the big hole. Most installations on SUV's (sorry this is an SAV I forgot) the trim piece has a backing that is set back to accomdate the hitch pin and hides the the underbody components. Nice paint job though.

I agree. It should have some backing..... again, the design is after-thought and not very well integrated with vehicle's over all design. Note that it is designed in Europe and they don't pull large Class III trailers like we do. Also they have power hidden hitch (light duty) as an option (in Europe, not DOT approved) which does not cut the bumper and looks great.

I know uhaul hitches are cheaper and will do the job. With that being said most aftermarket hitches do not have the threaded assy for the tow hooks in the bumper. Also uhaul has a tendency to make their hitches low below the bumper. I always try to keep the ball height off the ground around 20" and flip my receiver upside down to keep the trailer level to slightly nose high, never low. The factory hitch is 16" on center from the ground - base supension.
If you use the factory hitch then bumper trim comes in handy but I think it looks like dog poo. I'm going do design a new one the right way soon.

I used the hitch from etrailer.com at a recommendation of another member. Much much better than the BMW hitch, it is 13" off the ground, not cutting of the bumper, just a minor trim of the lower silver piece, maintains the original cross member so the tow holes are still useful and just looks so much better in my book. You can either just get the OEM wiring harness and programming or do the aftermarket wiring, either way, I would do this hitch over the BMW one and you save about 300 bucks on the hitch part alone.

i forgot to say that I am not planning to tow anything, just use the hitch for the bike rack, so wiring and under the bumper hitch don't matter to me.

Cool, I use my hitch to tow my 318ti when breaks down, bikes, and a landscape trailer. I use the Yakima 4 bike rack. The kind that swing down. I also use and hitch extension since the rear hatch is powered and there is not enough clearance when the rack is in the up lock for the gate to clear. I can already see myself or kid hitting the button when the rack is up position (ouch!!) plus it allows you the access the rear without lowering the rack (opps I forgot my water bottle or something). No flipper glass option.

I used the hitch from etrailer.com at a recommendation of another member. Much much better than the BMW hitch, it is 13" off the ground, not cutting of the bumper, just a minor trim of the lower silver piece, maintains the original cross member so the tow holes are still useful and just looks so much better in my book. You can either just get the OEM wiring harness and programming or do the aftermarket wiring, either way, I would do this hitch over the BMW one and you save about 300 bucks on the hitch part alone.

Rob

Rob...looks nice...did you do either of the wiring options? any problems?